Erik Schoenrock shines as Memphis Tigers take two from Marshall

As much as he enjoyed tossing a gem — a 1-0 Conference USA victory over Marshall on Saturday at FedExPark — University of Memphis left-hander Erik Schoenrock felt for his pitching opponent.

Marshall’s Aaron Blair, a 6-5 right-hander likely to go in the top three rounds of next month’s major league baseball draft, had matched Schoenrock nasty pitch for nasty pitch in the first game of a doubleheader on the U of M’s Park Avenue Campus. But an unexpected Blair wild pitch with one out in the bottom of the ninth — while attempting to intentionally walk Tucker Tubbs — allowed Ethan Gross to score the winning run from third base.

Memphis (29-19, 11-9 C-USA) completed the sweep with a 9-6 victory in a rain-delayed second game behind Keaton Aldridge. Aldridge stroked a deep three-run homer to right in the fifth, a blast aided by a gusty wind and hit in steady rainfall. The series finale — and the final C-USA home game for the Tigers — is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start Sunday.

Blair, a former high school summer league teammate of Schoenrock’s, came charging in from the mound to cover the plate as catcher Matt Kirkwood hustled to retrieve the pitch that sailed over his head and to the backstop. Kirkwood’s toss back to Blair zipped past Blair’s glove as Gross slid across the plate.

“I’ve seen him pitch for three years,” Schoenrock said. “He’s really good. I knew that was the type ballgame we were going to be in for.”

Blair, seated in the batter’s box, hung his head and didn’t move until a teammate lifted him to his feet. He walked slowly to the dugout, kicked in disgust as he reached it, and ran off his frustration by sprinting from foul pole to foul pole.

“I’m so glad we got the win, but I feel bad for him,” Schoenrock said. “It was kind of weird seeing a game end like that, but I’ll take it.”

Blair (5-4) allowed only three hits in 8¥ innings and had retired 13 of 14 Tigers before Gross reached on a out-out walk in the ninth. Carter White followed with a double over right fielder Gray Stafford’s head to put runners on second and third. The wild pitch came after the Thundering Herd (18-28, 5-12) decided to walk Tubbs intentionally with a 2-0 count.

Schoenrock’s second shutout of the season — and the ninth for the Tigers — followed two difficult outings in which he allowed 19 hits and 11 runs. Against Marshall, he scattered five hits and struck out nine. Schoenrock (6-3) didn’t walk a batter.

“The last few starts weren’t very good at all,” Schoenrock said. “So I just tried to get a good week of preparation in. I stepped up my running and how I worked out in between to make sure I wouldn’t get tired like I had the past couple of weeks. I think it paid off.”

Schoenrock, who would have pitched the 10th inning if needed, escaped trouble in the first, third and ninth. In the third, Marshall put runners on second and third with two outs after a Stafford double, but Schoenrock ended the threat by forcing Isaac Ballow to ground out to short.

Tiger coach Daron Schoenrock, Erik’s father, said his son “had one of those games where he was able to match Blair pitch for pitch; he felt strong today.”

“The difference was (Blair) walked four and Erik didn’t walk any,” coach Schoenrock said. “Those were two outstanding college pitchers.”

In the second game, Tiger left-hander Sam Moll struggled early, but recovered and retired the final five hitters he faced before leaving after the fifth-inning rain-delay of more than two hours. Moll (7-3) allowed four hits and struck out three.

Aldridge’s home run, his second of the season, came after Tubbs opened the inning with a single and Colton Simbeck reached on a two-out walk and gave the U of M a 6-2 lead.